The Last Wish

One night, six months later, Lu Qi commanded a group of Ninja Soldiers to surround a bar. Suddenly, his phone rang.

Seeing that it was Pepper calling, Lu Qi waved for the ninjas to attack while he stepped farther away to answer.

"Hey, Potts. Long time no see."

"Hey, Lu Qi. Long time no see. Where are you having fun?"

Lu Qi glanced at the bar in the distance as it began to grow rowdy and said, "A... uh... bar?"

"Uh, okay. I hope I didn't interrupt you."

"No. What's wrong?"

Lu Qi was a little puzzled. Six months ago, he had told Tony he was going traveling, then traveled all around the United States making extra money.

While experiencing the local customs of different cities and carrying out major cleanups, Lu Qi had also built up his main profession. Every day, he posted pictures of delicious food and beautiful scenery, gaining quite a few followers. Some companies had even contacted him, hoping for paid promotions.

With both his main job and side business flourishing, Lu Qi had been in an excellent mood. The only regret was that all the Dark Dimensions had been mined clean. Kamar-Taj's spatial observation capabilities were not strong enough to find new Dark Dimensions, so he had not gained any energy in a long time. His Shadow Army had remained at forty squads for ages, with no more happy additions.

After briefly recalling the past six months, Lu Qi came back to his senses and asked Pepper what had happened.

Pepper fell silent for a while before saying softly, "Lu Qi, I think you need to come back and see Tony. He's been acting strangely lately. He isn't handling company affairs anymore and spends every day in his lab. He even donated all the art he collected to the Children's Association. It's just..."

"Like he's become a different person?" Lu Qi said. So the new storyline had finally begun? He had waited far too long for this. He had thought Iron Man 2 would begin in a few weeks, but the plot had only started six months later.

"I'll come back and see Tony. Don't worry," Lu Qi promised Pepper.

Suddenly, a violent explosion erupted from the bar, and flames soared into the air.

"Oh my God, Lu Qi, was that an explosion on your end?"

Pepper cried out in surprise over the phone.

"Uh, it's nothing. I'm at a, uh... beach party, and someone here set off a super huge firework."

"Really?" Pepper said suspiciously. "But you were at a bar just now."

"Really! The bar here is right on the beach, and they attract customers with an incredibly grand fireworks show." Lu Qi glanced over at the battle and found a large group of Vampires wielding firearms, launching a fierce attack on the Ninja Soldiers who had survived the explosion.

"Really? Why do those sounds feel like... gunfire?"

"You heard wrong. I guarantee you, this is definitely an incredibly grand fireworks show. I feel like my camera storage is almost full."

Lu Qi summoned the Shadow Ninjas again and directed them to attack the Vampires.

"Then this performance must be amazing, with so many fireworks being set off." Listening to the unceasing sounds over the phone, Pepper wondered what kind of fireworks they were and why they sounded so much like guns. Could that be some sort of local specialty too?

"It really is. The show is fantastic, and everyone's having a great time!" Lu Qi watched as a Vampire was stabbed through the heart, taking a fatal hit and turning into a pile of ash.

Once the battle ended, Lu Qi saw the uninvited Coulson waving at him. He gave the phone one final remark. "Don't worry, I'll come see Tony right away. I just need to take a few photos first. I'll definitely show you later."

Without waiting for Pepper's response, Lu Qi hung up and jumped straight down from the rooftop.

The building was not that tall anyway, only a few stories. It was nothing to him now.

Coulson looked at the Syrian-style scene around him with a headache, unsure how to wrap things up. Seeing Lu Qi approach, Coulson said helplessly, "Looks like you'll have to take a break for now. This time, things got a little too big. I need some time to deal with it, so could you stop hunting Vampires for the time being?"

Lu Qi nodded. He had indeed gone a little overboard this time. "All right, then. Remember to transfer the money into my account." The plot was starting anyway, and he needed to go back and check on Tony.

Watching Lu Qi enter an alley and leave, Coulson let out a sigh of relief. He had just received orders from the director to stop Lu Qi from continuing to hunt Vampires, because over the past few months, Lu Qi had wiped out every Vampire in sixteen cities.

Setting aside the ordinary ones, nearly fifty High-Level Vampires had been hunted.

The Vampire elders had already lodged a protest. If this continued, they would go straight to war.

Coulson still had no idea how to stop Lu Qi from hunting Vampires. He had followed that god of slaughter all over the United States, specifically to clean up his messes—or rather, monitor him.

Ever since the first battle, S.H.I.E.L.D. had learned nearly everything about Lu Qi's capabilities. After tossing Lu Qi's old files into a shredder, Director Fury had ordered Coulson to stick close to Lu Qi and make sure he remained under control.

God knew how the director expected him to control someone like that. Fortunately, the scale of this battle had been too great. Coulson could first get Lu Qi to stop hunting, then tell him that S.H.I.E.L.D. had withdrawn the bounty on Vampires. That should be enough to make Lu Qi settle down.

Coulson wiped the sweat from his forehead, sent Fury a message, then began directing the agents to clean up the battlefield. If the media found out, who knew what kind of trouble would break out again.

After receiving the message, Fury nodded. Then he turned and pressed a button, and a ghostly figure appeared before him.

"You want a ceasefire, don't you?" Fury asked the Vampire elders in a low voice.

The ghostly figure remained silent for a long time before finally nodding.

"Get out of this country. That's my condition. Otherwise, I have no way to directly order around a civilian Vampire hunter."

The Vampire elder clenched his fingers in fury. For the past few months, S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel had been following that guy around, and now Fury was saying he was not one of theirs? Who was he trying to fool?

But there was no choice. That guy was a little too strong. If this kept up, he would eventually come for him. If he had not used the threat of war to pressure that Egghead, he would never have been able to stop that bastard.

Meanwhile, Pepper looked helplessly at the call that had been hung up and shook her head.

After collecting herself, Pepper took the thick stack of documents in her hands downstairs to find Tony.

Not long after, a portal opened there.

"The footage has been deleted. Hello, Mr. Lu Qi. Long time no see."

JARVIS's voice came from the speaker in the corner.

Lu Qi gave the camera a thumbs-up. "JARVIS, I feel like you're getting smarter and smarter. You even know how to greet people now."

The camera turned. "Mr. Stark designed a new language module and emotional module for me. It is all thanks to him."

"Mm, I'll definitely tell him you praised him." Lu Qi ran downstairs and saw the two of them opening champagne.

Knocking on the glass, Lu Qi shouted, "Did I come at a bad time?"

But thanks to the excellent soundproofing of the glass, Lu Qi's voice could not be heard at all. Still, he successfully caught their attention.

"You came at a terrible time." Tony grinned helplessly. He was not stupid enough to say that before Lu Qi entered by punching in the code.

"Sorry about that, but celebrating without me is what's really no fun." Lu Qi walked toward Tony, but quickly covered his nose and backed away two steps.

"Oh my God, Tony, what did you drink? It smells awful."

"Is it that obvious?" Tony turned to look at Pepper.

Pepper nodded and silently covered her nose.

"All right, I drank chlorophyll juice to replenish some nutrients I've been lacking lately. I suggest you have a glass too. It'll make you stronger and healthier."

Tony said helplessly. He had thought no one would notice.

"I didn't know that stuff could make you stronger and healthier." Lu Qi spoke through his covered nose.

"Come on, it can't be that unbearable!" Tony said helplessly as he walked toward Lu Qi.

"Stay away, don't come any closer! I don't even know how Pepper puts up with it!" Lu Qi retreated wildly.

The two of them began chasing each other around the garage while Pepper shook her head at the pair, who together did not seem older than ten...

Pepper soon went upstairs. Tony had just handed the CEO position over to her, and she needed to quickly deal with the thousands of backlogged Stark Group matters, as well as complete the promotion procedures.

Meanwhile, Lu Qi and Tony stared at each other silently in the basement.

"You're making me feel like I'm in danger. After all, your physical abilities are several times greater than mine," Tony was the first to break the silence.

"More accurately, over ten times. Considering someone spends all day cooped up at home without exercising, that number might need to go up a little." Lu Qi crossed his arms and looked around the garage, quickly spotting the juicer in the corner. "But don't worry, I still prefer women. I'm not into men who like drinking mysterious liquids."

"While I'm happy to hear I'm not in danger, I still need to point something out. That number needs to be lower, because I've been exercising lately. My house is so big that I set up a gym right here." Tony said with a straight face, pretending to be calm.

Seeing Lu Qi's gaze fixed on the juicer in the corner, Tony asked, "Where have you been lately? You really haven't contacted me in a long time."

Turning back, Lu Qi said, "I went traveling for a while, and did some cleanup work on the side."

"I've been clearing out the Vampires hiding in this country."

Lu Qi said seriously.

"All right, I remember you're still a security consultant for that organization. Maybe you really were dealing with some 'Vampires' feeding on taxpayers. Those guys really are awful..."

Tony had not finished speaking before Lu Qi cut him off.

"I mean actual Vampires. The kind that drink blood. Tony, I don't believe you didn't notice."

Tony looked into Lu Qi's eyes, then quickly turned away guiltily. He had been paying close attention to Lu Qi's movements lately and had naturally discovered a few clues that told him Vampires really existed in this world.

"Uh, all right. I did hear some rumors and found out those things exist, but shouldn't that be classified? Is it okay for you to say it so directly?"

"Tony..." Lu Qi paused. "I won't lie to my friends, and I don't want my friends to lie to me."

"What exactly happened to you?"

Tony turned to look at Lu Qi. After standing there for a while, he helplessly lifted his shirt.

"That's disgusting." Lu Qi looked at the purple veins around Tony's reactor.

As Tony's expression gradually worsened, Lu Qi stepped forward, pressed one hand against the reactor, and let Dark Energy seep into Tony's body.

Although Lu Qi's Dark Energy could not heal anyone other than himself, it could mutually consume and annihilate other forms of energy and matter.

Tony felt something enter his body, but he did not make any rash moves and allowed Lu Qi to continue.

Soon, Lu Qi withdrew his hand. Tony lowered his shirt and let out a sigh of relief.

"Man, that was the first time a man entered my body, and it was an awful experience!"

Tony touched his chest and felt much better.

"What did you do?" Tony lifted his shirt and discovered that the purple veins on his chest had vanished.

"Oh my God, you saved me. If I'd known, I would've told you sooner." Tony laughed loudly.

Lu Qi shook his head helplessly. "I only cleared out the toxins in your body for now. As long as that light bulb stays inside you, those toxins will keep hurting you."

Tony stopped. He was not an idiot. He had only been so happy a moment ago that he forgot everything else. Once he calmed down, he realized Lu Qi had not lied to him.

"All right, then you just need to give me a spa treatment every once in a while." Tony lowered his shirt and shrugged helplessly.

Lu Qi did not want Tony to simply accept his fate. "I've already crossed paths with those people, and I can't guarantee I'll survive their retaliation. You'd better cure yourself so you can come help me."

"So you came to ask for help?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"That's right. I came to ask the greatest genius in history, Tony Stark," Lu Qi said.

"Oh my God, you actually complimented me!" Tony shouted in surprise. "JARVIS, remember to save this video to my cloud server. I'll have to enjoy it properly later."

"Save the enjoyment for later. Do you have any way to save yourself right now?"

Tony suddenly fell silent.

"I've tried every element on Earth, but none of them can replace Palladium."

Looking at Tony's heavy expression, Lu Qi thought for a moment.

"Don't lose heart. You're the greatest scientist. Why not go out and take a walk? Some guy got hit by an apple and discovered gravity. Maybe all you lack is that little spark of inspiration. What if something hits you and gives you an idea?"

Seeing Tony unwilling to move, Lu Qi continued, "At the very least, you can do everything you want to do. Then you can die in peace, right?"

Tony looked up at Lu Qi. "All right, you convinced me. But don't run away after this. You have to let me go wild and fulfill my wishes first."